1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a bicycle gear shifting control apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bicycle gear shifting control apparatus for moving a front derailleur from a first sprocket to a second sprocket, with the front derailleur being configured such that it can be mounted to a bicycle and the sprockets being arranged along an axial direction.
2. Background Information
One known type of gear shifting device for a bicycle is an externally mounted gear shifting device having a front derailleur and a rear derailleur. This type of externally mounted gear shifting device is configured to use the front derailleur and the rear derailleur to change speeds (shift gears) by moving a chain among a plurality of front sprockets mounted to a crank shaft so as to be arranged along the axial direction of the crank shaft and a plurality of rear sprockets mounted to a rear hub shaft so as to be arranged along the axial direction of the rear hub shaft. The idea of using derailleurs that are driven using an electric motor or other actuator such that they can be controlled electrically and providing a control device to control the derailleurs is well known in the bicycle field of externally mounted gear shifting devices (see for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-87371).
In conventional technologies that employ an electrically controlled derailleur to accomplish gear shifting control, upshifting and downshifting are performed, for example, by manually operating a button that serves as a manually operated shift device for shifting gears.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved bicycle gear shifting control apparatus. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.